Noctis
Alwen wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting from a Terran city. She had seen plenty of old Terran movies set in some of their larger more iconic cities like New York of London, they had always seemed very straight edged and dirty, not at all like the buildings on Torwen. On her home world buildings tended to swoop, dip, and curve like the waves on the sea, it was hard to find a straight angle or a pointed edge. The streets were all mingled with parks and water fixtures, sometimes a walking path would have you walking on the ground level only to have said path dip into a lit tunnel that went under the road, or on a bridge overlooking the street.
But that was all because civic infrastructure and public transportation was all handled by central guilds who set up strict limitations and architectural styles. Terrans however trusted their city development to whichever contractor or construction company could get the job done at the cheapest price. That meant a lot of straight and unimaginative lines crossed perpendicularly by other straight and unimaginative lines, with straight square buildings capitalizing on as much of the space as they could. As she and Gato rode the monorail that stretched itself over the main road Alwen couldn’t help but feel unimpressed by the tall square apartment complexes that sat on small plots of grass.
Limey had come through on his part, he had somehow temporarily incapacitated half of the marines. Nothing serious, just something that made them all too drowsy and exhausted to go anywhere. So when Alwen asked Gato if he could be her chaperone, he had no one else to thrust her upon.
She absently remarked to herself that she really should feel bad about drugging her friends so she could spend time with a guy she wasn’t entirely sure she had romantic feelings for, but she couldn’t actually summon up any guilt. Back on Torwen a thought like that would have been unimaginable.
“Something on your mind?” Gato rumbled snapping her out of herself reflection.
“Not really, the city just looks boring”
Gato grunted “That’s Noctis for you. The industrial heart of Mars. Most of the housing complexes on the outskirts of the city were built by corporations who just wanted a place for their workers to live, and the inner city is a complete mess.”
“Really”
“Yeah, After the Union was done Terraforming the Martian Colonial Union began to section off places for their first open air cities. Noctis was chosen to be the heart of the economy since it had lots of water access and plenty of mineral deposits. They set up a grand plan for the inner city with plenty of parks, shopping, and museums, and auctioned off swathes of the outskirts to fund inner city’s construction. They then laid hundreds of miles of monorail and metro stations to connect the urban heart to those soon to be working class neighborhoods. The result was densely populated outskirts with hundreds of commuters who had to do all their shopping in the inner city.”
She frowned, “that sounds… like a really bad way to plan a city.”
He smiled “It is. Noctis was the first off world city, and the people who built it didn’t have any real understanding of urban development. The swathes of workers and industry they wanted came faster than any of the actual city. Noctis was built from the ground up, with none of the usual infrastructure or materials something like this would require. No trucks, bricks, concrete, wood, or glass. It all had to be shipped in from earth. They had to rush a lot of the construction with less than perfect materials. The result was cookie cutter housing complexes and an inner city that looks like a complete mess with tons of buildings slowly crumbling around their occupants”
Alwen felt her heart fall, “So, there isn’t really much to see.”
Gato shook his head, “The innermost city is starting to put itself together, lot of nice little shops around the University of Noctis, and city hall. But the rest is kind of a ghetto.”
Alwen sighed “Are all Terran cities like this?” she asked in dismay. She had been told that not all Terran settlements were ghettos or slums, but so far she hadn’t seen any evidence to the contrary.
“Some are, some aren’t. The rest of Mars for the most part is very pretty. After Noctis started pumping out construction materials the other settlements up and down the Mariners inlet were able to plan things out a lot better. And the really big cultural centers like Olympus Mons and Elysium are stunning.”
“Figures, my first time on an alien world and we stay in worst city on the whole planet”
“You’ve been to Verdant” he pointed out.
“I don’t think visiting another worlds ocean counts.”
“Fair enough” he assented. “So what did you want to do in the city?” he asked as the monorail shot past the first buildings of the inner city.
“For one, clothes. I’ve had to toss a lot of clothes because they’re really worn down.”
“I have noticed that you’ve cycling through the same four shirts”
Alwen nodded “Yeah, and I was kinda hoping to start dressing like the rest of the crew, might help me stand out a little less.”
“You have purple skin and white hair” he deadpanned. “You’re always going to stand out a little.”
She frowned “Maybe, but the Torweni on my brother’s crew all dressed like the Terrans, and they looked less like two different species and more like one solid crew. I think I want to really feel like I’m just another one of you guys, and not just the alien doctor girl.”’’
“Hmm” he grumbled “The Captain has a deal with a shop, they make the clothes and charge it to the ships account. Anywhere else?”
“A few places, but I mostly just want to wander around a see things for myself”
She watched out the window as the monorail pulled into an elevated station surrounded by green grass. The train pulled into its platform and she and Gato stood up and joined the rush of people trying to get out. After that everything was just as busy as she would expect from a busy station, crowds of people bustling every which way.
She watched the crowds of people and slowly got a feel for the city’s demographics “There are a lot more Mammaloids than I was expecting, I thought you were in the minority here on Mars?”
“Were the minority on Earth too, but Noctis is a working-class city, and about 80% of all civilized Mammaloids are just basic laborers. This is the one place on Mars where we’re not out of place.”
Alwen gaped at him “80%!”
“Yup, it makes sense if you think about. When we were uplifted we were basically just naked animals, didn’t even know how to read or count. Only place for us in a civilized world was as basic uneducated laborers. The kids of those Mammaloids had more access to education, but were still limited by the circumstances of their birth.” He said frankly as they stepped out of the station.
“That’s awful!”
He shrugged “Eh, in every society there will always be a mountain of hurdles that prevent the poorer working class from advancing. We’ve only been around a little over a hundred years, not a lot of time for a whole demographic of people to move up in the world.”
“Does it really not bother you?”
“Not me, but if you ask Alice about it you’ll get a full-on lecture about the systemic challenges leveled specifically at the Uplifted community. From the neglect on the government’s part, to the callous way employers work us to death, she’s very passionate about it.” he said with a wry little smile.
Alwen saw how he opened up a little when it came to Alice and felt guilty. It was obvious they had a lot of history together, and that they both cared for each other in their own ways. If she were a real friend to Alice she would be trying to get these two back together, not steal her man. But Alwen wasn’t Alice’s only friend, she had Gabe, Isabela, Limey, and everyone else, surely they had tried and failed. Or simply decided that they were better off separated.
“How long have you known everyone?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
“What do you mean?” he asked, taken aback by her abrupt question.
“Like, when did you meet the rest of the marines, did you guys know each other before, or did you meet on the ship?” she clarified.
He cocked his head to the side “Bit of column A, bit of column B. A lot of our marines grew up together on their bases, and others like Brevot and Limey transferred from other divisions.”
“And you?” she asked, trying to learn more about the cagey man.
“I’m sort of in between, I was trained on a base just like the others, but I wasn’t born there. I joined them about ten years ago, after my days in the pit”
“Why’d you join?”
“Didn’t see any other use for my skills and strength.” He said simply.
“Okay, and what did you do before?”
“Before what?”
“Before you joined the marines, and before your days as a pit fighter. Where did you grow up, what were your parents like?” she pushed.
He tilted his head to the side as if he were thinking really. “I’m not really sure where I grew up, I was very young at the time. It was hot though, and very humid.”
“And your parents?”
He frowned “I… I don’t think I ever met my dad.”
“And your Mom.” She pressed, getting Gato to open up and talk about himself was like pulling teeth.
“She was spotted, unlike me. And she hated it when I bit her tail” He smiled a little at the end.
She laughed “You bit her tail?”
“Of course, it was there, and it was just begging to be bit” he laughed before going quite again. “She’s not around though, she got shot when I was very young.
She heard the pain in his voice and decided that it was best to leave it there. It was already a victory on her part for getting him to open up as much as he did.
“And what about you?” he asked “I’ve heard plenty about your home-life from everyone else, but I’ve never heard you say much about yourself. What was it like growing up on Torwen?”
“Not much to say really, I’m the youngest of 14, fourth doctor in the family.”
“14 sounds like, a lot”
She shrugged “Bigger more affluent families tend to have more kids, we don’t have nearly as much troubles as you Terrans do during childbirth, and our pregnancies are about a month or two shorter. It’s easier to, ah, pump out kids when you have nurse maids and other people on staff to help take care of the infants. But yeah, 14 is a lot even by our standards, but my mother was lucky enough to have twins three times”
“Jesus, that poor women!” he exclaimed.
“Believe it or not she’s very proud of it. She gets a lot of praise in her social circles for her fertility, and it makes me and my sisters very desirable for a lot of very powerful people.”
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He glanced at her with quirked eyebrows “That sounds very backwards to me.”
Alwen shrugged “Its different for us. Terran women are fully accepted and respected in manly professions, but on Torwen a women is valued for how ‘womanly’ she is. We’re expected to have many kids and tend the household, and when our kids are ready to leave the house we’re also expected to find them good marriages.”
“It was the same on Earth for human women for a very long time, they had to work very hard to break down those kind of gender divides. And it still persists in some form today. It must feel really constricting to grow up in a society like that.” He said sympathetically.
“I wasn’t really interested in all that stuff, among my people it made me kind of ‘butch’ by our standards. Its part of the reason I really admire some of the women on the Astaroth. Alice and Isabela are powerful and deadly space marines, and Captain Astarte built a massive industrial empire and space fleet on pure will power. We don’t have women like that on Torwen, the closest thing we have is the Ashendra-ranai’a like Gellnay and Alvara.”
“Who were they?” he asked.
“Ashendra-ranai’a literally beloved of Ashendra, but you would best understand it them as martyrs. Healers and caretakers who went to dangerous places to do good things, and died painfully. The stories gloss over the death part though and emphasize how those women held to their values and never broke their oaths to the Goddess.”
Gato grunted “that sucks”
She blinked in surprise, “How so?” she asked. Those stories had always been very inspirational for her.
“Well think about, your society tells little girls that they can either be baby factories devoted to their husbands, or die a painful but glorious death. Growing up with shit like that can be really harmful to little kids.” He said, indignant on her behalf.
“It’s not that bad, I really admired Gellnay and Alvara, I wanted to be just like them when I grew up.” She said quickly. It had always been her dream to become a famed healer like them, it was part of the reason she made the bold choice to leave Torwen.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but is that all you had to grow up on? Cuz’ growing up on stories like that limits a person’s expectations in life. You were so distraught when you were forced to fight to save your life, for fucks sake you felt bad about protecting yourself. I’ll bet you always imagined that if push came to shove you would let yourself die just like they did.”
“What so wrong about that?”
He pressed his palm up to his head, “Because it ain’t right. No one really wants to die, its why sacrificing your life for someone else is such a brave thing to do. But wanting to die rather than fight back when your life is on the line, just because someone else told you it was how some other people died, is fucked up in so many ways.”
“I… but I,” she spluttered.
He looked her dead in the eyes “Vi, you’re one of the best doctors the I have ever seen, you’re just as good as Bachir at only a quarter of his age. Fighting to protect yourself and the lives of your friends doesn’t make you any less of a doctor. You’re good with a blade and getting better all the time, your friends with almost everyone on the ship, smart as hell, and gorgeous. Your Bones the God slayer, you cut open the skull of a titanic monster and fired a full clip into its brain without a second thought.” He growled.
His words hit her like a punch to the gut. She felt little tears sting the edge of her vision, and Gato’s harsh gaze instantly softened. He put an arm around her shoulders. “Hey don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you sad” he said softly.
“It’s not that, I just, I don’t even know” she said as she tried to control her emotions.
“I’m sorry, I just thought you needed to hear that. You’re strong, and you can choose to tread your own path. You don’t have to be like those other healers, life is what you make of it.”
She smiled “You’re right, I think I did need to hear that”
He patted her on the shoulder before he pulled back, suddenly embarrassed a pensive. “And uh, sorry for touching you without asking, it just sort of happened” he said.
“Don’t be” she said as she wiped away the tears “I needed it” she said softly as her heart pounded at the thought of how close they had been. She shrunk in on herself as her face flushed with embarrassment at how she nearly cried in public, and at the tingling his touch left on her skin. “You said you knew a good place to find Hellworlder robes”
He smiled “This way” he said as he led her into the city.
The tailor in question ended up being a back-alley shop only a few blocks away from the university district. They entered through an unassuming gray steel door into a very industrial looking space. The walls were made of rust-colored bricks and had been patched up with bland grey concrete, rusty girders and I-beams held up the ceiling, and huge dirty windows let in grimy light. Long chains dangled from the ceiling holding up bolts of cloth in every pattern and color, human looking mannequins were randomly scattered about the space displaying completed outfits. Alwen followed Gato in as the door slammed behind them, he led her forward through the maze of haphazardly hung shelves and cabinets to the center of the mess where the owner had set up her workstation.
There an older women was hunched over a sewing machine as she worked on a pretty floral print robe. She didn’t even spare them a glance as she finished working on the clothes in front of her. When she had finished her work she straightened up, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and fixed her gaze on Alwen. During Alwen’s time with the Hellworlder’s she had learned how to recognize and differentiate many of the different Terran ethnicities. The women before her was almost Alwen’s height and had straight black hair and slightly differently shaped eyes which placed her as being someone from the eastern side of the Eurasian continent, and since this was a shop that dealt in Japanese clothing she assumed she was Japanese. From her looks she seemed to be fully Japanese, rather than the half heritage Astarte claimed.
“More Torweni” she grumbled in heavily accented common “Speak English?” she asked.
“Yes” Alwen responded in English.
The women smiled “Good, I speak that better than common” she said in a slightly less accented tone. Her words almost had an additional vowel at the end of every hard consonant “Do you speak Nihongo?”
Alwen shook her head “I’ve learned a few words, but not many. I’m still learning English”
The seamstress shrugged “Still better than the others, you from Asmodeus or Moloch?”
“The Astaroth actually” Alwen answered.
“Should have known” The woman said with a glance towards Gato. “I told you stop growing, to big already.” She grumbled and pointed an accusatory finger at him.
“No can-do Madam Ito, my job requires me to be big and strong” Gato said wryly.
She harrumphed “Too big, I need to make new clothes for you, already too tight in the shoulders” she then turned her gaze back to Alwen “How long have you been on Astaroth?”
“Uh, close to a year”
She blinked “And your only now getting proper clothes?”
“I brought clothes from home, but now they’re worn down.” Alwen explained.
“I meant proper clothes, my clothes” she said as she walked forward and began to lift and examine Alwen’s arm, feeling along her musculature. “Hm, you already put on muscle, good. I won’t need to guess how big you’ll grow. First Torweni girl I’ve gotten to measure though, I’ll need to get all your measurements properly, slightly different proportions from Human girls. Do you wear shirts, or walk around topless?”
“Yes, to the shirt part I mean.” Alwen answered as Madam Ito began to poke around her belly.
“Hm, bigger hips than human women, plenty to hang off. What’s your job, are you another marine brute?”
“I’m the ship’s Doctor”
Madam Ito stopped “With arms like those?” she asked incredulously.
“The Captain said I needed to be fit” Alwen answered, her face going a little flush.
“Hmph that girl has big arms to, doesn’t know the value in good slender limbs. Oh well,” she sighed before turning to Gato “You, turn around or leave”
“Excuse me?” he asked, Alwen could hear his incredulity.
“I need to do a proper fitting, can’t have you watching” she explained dismissively as the assertive women pulled Alwen up to stand on a pedestal.
Gato grumbled but thankfully turned away after Alwen gave him a look that said it was okay.
The seamstress left to dig through some drawers until she found what she was looking for and came back with a length of measuring tape. She helped Alwen slip out of her shirt and began to take her measurements. “How many do you need?” she asked abruptly.
“I’m down to only four shirts”
“I see, any idea for colors or patterns?”
“I was hoping to have something in the traditional color of my order, lavender, light blues, gray. As for patterns I’m not sure, something simple maybe? And easy to move around in.” she said distractedly as the women turned her around.
“Hm, maybe Chrysanthemums, going to be hard to match your skin tone. Are you sure you don’t want something prettier, might snag you some good attention?” she asked softly.
“Uh, no, just something to help me fit in with the crew.”
“Hm,” she said absentmindedly “How long will the Astaroth be in Noctis?”
“For a while I’d imagine, we experienced some pretty heavy damage.” Alwen answered, she hadn’t really heard how long they would be staying, but after the last six months the crew needed some time to relax and process what happed.
“Enough time for me to put together some good robes. You’ll have the best possible robes on Mars. And authentic too, not those western imitations they sell in Elysium.”
“Imitations?” Alwen asked.
“Yes, lots of traditional clothing became very popular after first contact, many westerners want some as well. But many of them don’t know what they’re doing, not like me. My family has been making traditional clothes in Kyoto since the Tokugawa shogunate.” She said proudly.
Alwen had vague idea of how long ago that was “That’s very impressive”
“Yes it is, my ancestors made clothes for the Emperor and many daimyos. We lost a lot of prestige after Emperor Meiji tried to make the country more western, I’m glad Japanese clothing is making a comeback.”
“They’re very beautiful” Alwen said as she looked over at the other mannequins
Madam Ito made a pleased noise as she finished taking her measurements and brought out little swathes of cloth to compare against her skin. When she was satisfied that she knew that right colors she shooed Alwen off her pedestal and brought up Gato and tutted about him as she got his new dimensions.
Alwen tried not to laugh at how the little women had completely subjugated Gato to her will. When she was done with him she pulled him off her pedestal and shooed them both out of the shop, saying that she’d send them over once she was done with her current orders. She pushed them out the door and slammed it behind them.
They stood outside awkwardly until Alwen cleared her throat “Well that was… interesting” she said trying hold back her laughter.
“Yeah, Madam Ito is very eccentric, but she knows her craft. Apparently she was a friend of the Cap’ns old teacher, back when she worked for that slime-ball Greyson.” He grumbled as they walked out of the ally.
“Greyson?” she asked. Alwen thought she might have heard that name somewhere else before but couldn’t remember where.
“Old leader of the Terran pirates, the Cap’n joined up with his crew aboard the Black Saint when she was young.”
Alwen made an ‘oh’ face and they continued on in silence. That was until her stomach began to grumble.
Gato looked at her with a bemused expression “Hungry?” he asked.
She nodded and fought down her embarrassment at her treacherous stomach “Yes”
He lifted his head and sniffed the air experimentally “Coffee, ramen, or Mexican”
“Does the coffee shop sell tea?” she asked, not questioning the insane power of his nose. She had a better sense of smell than most humans, or at least was less nose blind to things, but many of the Mammaloids had ridiculous olfactory senses.
“Smells like it, but you should try some real Terran coffee. Its nothing like that Uq’ot stuff.” He said as he began to lead the way. His path had them cutting through several alleys and parks rather walking down a main sidewalk since they were following his nose and not a map.
Alwen felt like there was some sort of invisible barrier they passed through when they entered the nicer part of the city. All the buildings had a noticeable upgrade in architecture, still very straight and uniform but with more decorative moldings. The streets here were lined with big trees that made her nose itch, and the sidewalk became less cluttered with trash. She also noted that this part of the city was way more packed with people walking from one shop to another, pleasantly chatting in groups, or enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. She noticed that many people wore robes similar to the kind the Hellworlders wore, while others wore other more typical Terran clothing. The streets were lined with shops that displayed all sorts of wares in their windows, from clothes to toys, to other things she didn’t exactly recognize but looked very interesting.
The café in question was on the corner of a red brick building with large windows overlooking a green park with a fountain at the center. Rich aromatic smells wafted through her nose and Alwen felt herself strongly craving whatever this place was selling. Gato looked to be in the same frame of mind as she was and didn’t hesitate to walk right in. The Café was bustling with all the various different kinds of sapients earth had to offer to the galaxy, and even a few energetic looking Balikstro who were chatting animatedly with young looking Terrans.
Though Alwen had never been to Earth or Mars before today, she knew how to recognize the youthful energy in the air. She had spent countless hours at places like this back on Torwen, back when she was cramming for tests. This was a place heavily frequented by students and other intellectuals, she could practically feel the air buzzing with ideas. She felt completely at home in the alien café.
As opposed to Gato whose huge body and barely restrained violent aura had caused a few people to unconsciously give him room. His gaze raked across the room, and he stood up a little straighter, and unconsciously dominating the busy shop.
The purple haired barista stared at Alwen curiously as she ordered a drink and sandwich for the two of them, they sat by a window, and she had her first taste of real Terran coffee.
“That’s good” she said in surprise. She had grown to accept Xeno-jo but never really enjoyed it, and once she bought some tea leaves on the pirate capital she switched back to tea.
He grinned “Better than tea?”
“No, but still good” she said sweetly as she had another sip.
He laughed “Tea vs Coffee, the univers’s greatest argument” he said jokingly
She laughed with him as she let herself relax. They spent the rest of their time quietly enjoying their sandwiches, a Terran culinary invention she fully intended to bring home to Torwen, and chatted softly.
“Anywhere else you want to go today?” she asked him.
“I’m just your chaperone remember, I’ll wherever you want.” He answered simply.
“Come on, there’s got to be somewhere you would want go.” She pushed.
“Not really, I get everything I need from the ship. Food, shelter, exercise, no real need to leave and explore Noctis.” He said after another sip.
“Okay, but what do you do for fun? Like do you watch sports, or do you have a secret thing for reading, dancing. Actually do Terrans dance at all, I haven’t heard any of you mention any dance halls.”
“Uh, sort of, it’s more like rhythmic jerking of the body to loud music and flashing lights, makes my eyes hurt really bad.”
“So no dance halls?” Alwen asked flatly.
“Not really”
“I guess that will change when more of my people start visiting here.” She said determinedly.
He grunted and finished off his coffee and stood up “I’m going to get another, want one”
She shook her head and he walked back to the bar. Alwen was having fun, but she felt like he was only here out of a sense of duty and hadn’t figured out her intentions yet. She had decided that she needed to be blunt and straightforward with him when she confessed her feelings, which absolutely terrified her deep down. She thought that if he was having a lot of fun though it might make it easier for her to say what she was feeling. But the darned man had absolutely zero interest in being in the city, which made her job a lot harder.
She was in deep contemplation when a two humans approached her table “I’m sorry to bug you” a blonde girl said timidly “But are you Torweni?” she asked.
“No, I just fell into a vat of purple paint” Alwen said mischievously. She had expected this to happen at least once, and had spent hours coming up with something witty to say when it happened.
“Oh, okay” the girl said crestfallenly.
The boy at her side rolled his eyes “She’s joking Sarah”
“Oh, are you?” the blonde girl, Sarah, asked.
Alwen smiled “Yes, I was joking. I’m Alwen, it’s nice to meet you”
The girl smiled “it’s nice to meet you, I’m Sarah and this is my boyfriend Michael”
Alwen nodded her head towards Michael “It’s a pleasure to meet you”
“And you, your English is very good by the way, I can barely notice the accent” he said with a smile.
“I would hope so, I’ve been living with Terrans for almost a year now”
“Here in Noctis?” Sarah asked.
“No, I’ve been working on a Terran spaceship. This is the first time I’ve come planet side” she answered.
Michael grimaced “And Noctis is your first Terran city”
“Yeah”
“Ugh, I feel bad for you.” He said sympathetically.
“I take it you’re not from around here?” Alwen said.
“I’m from a small town up the Mariners inlet, Sarah’s a native though.” He said with a point.
Alwen nodded as an idea came to her “You two are a Terran coupling right?”
“Yeah”
“What do you do for dates” she asked?
“Dates, why?” Sarah asked.
“I’m here with that big Felinoid by the bar, but I don’t think he really understands what I’m getting at” Alwen said.
Sarah turned and gave Gato a glimpse before turning back to her “I understand entirely, boys can be so clueless.”
“Hey!” Michael said.
Sarah jerked a thumb at him “It took forever for him to ask me out, and I made it very obvious.”
Alwen nodded sagely “It’s good to know somethings don’t change, even on other worlds.”
“Exactly, the secret is to get them alone, once they’re away from other people they actually start to notice things that are in plain sight. There’s a good ice cream place across the park, lots of little places to be alone together” she said conspiratorially.
Michael looked totally dumbfounded “Holy shit, she’s right”
Alwen made a face “Ew, ice cream? No.”
“What’s wrong with ice cream?”
“It’s the frozen lactation of another mammal, its gross and I don’t know how you Terrans stand it.” Alwen said flatly.
Sarah blinked “Huh, I guess you’re right, that is kinda weird. They have sorbet if you can’t do dairy.”
Alwen thought for a minute, “that might work” she said thoughtfully.
“It will” Sarah said with certainty.
Alwen cleared her throat “sorry, I just realized you probably didn’t come here to give me dating advice.”
“Its fine, in a roundabout way we kinda did. We were curious what Torweni people were like, it’s reassuring to see that you have boy troubles just like the rest of us.”
Alwen laughed “In my experience our two peoples aren’t really that different, we’re more like one species with a slightly different culture.”
“I’ve noticed that as well” Michael said, “Not with Torweni, you’re the first I’ve met. But with the Balikstro, they’ve been visiting Mars more and more lately. At first it was very apparent that we think in two very different ways, but after a while you just start to notice that underneath it all they’re a lot like us. They hope and dream for different things, but they hope and dream just like us, if that makes any sense.”
Alwen nodded “No, I get what you mean. At first I looked at all the people around me and only saw them as aliens, completely strange to me, but now I’m starting to see that under it all we both have the same souls. Like there is no Torweni soul or Terran soul, it’s all just one type of soul.”
Michael nodded “I’m not sure about the soul part, but I agree with the sentiment. People are just people, complicated and impossible to fully understand.”
Alwen smiled and noticed Gato walking back over, Sarah and Michael also saw him and said goodbye as he came back.
“Who were they?” he asked.
“Just some people who wanted to meet a Torweni” Alwen said simply. “Do you want to get some ice cream?” She asked innocently.